Aspire Win Classic Cup Tie

Knockout football always provides drama, and the John Good Group WFA Cup third round clash between Villa Rockets and Aspire was no exception.

In fact, the feisty clash at an atmospheric Doug Ellis Sports Centre, the home of Villa Rockets, was a cup classic!

Aspire ultimately won 2-1, securing their place in the finals day at Derby Arena on 9th May.

The game started off cagey. Villa set up with a defensive approach, and allowed themselves to be placed under early pressure.

Aspire capitalised on this, and scored on the seventh minute from a set piece. Mclellan's delivery was pinpoint, meeting the oncoming front bumper of Jon Bolding, who punched it powerfully into the near post.

The goal seemed to awake something in Villa, who sprung into life as a result. They started to fight back, showing great strength and determination to battle their way into Aspire territory.

Villa got a deserved equaliser thirteen minutes in. Former Aspire winger Rosie Hodgson played the ball into the path of Humzah Mudhir, who unleashed a rocket on the edge of the area, powerfully levelling the tie.

The rest of the half was chaotic and end-to-end, which suited the hosts Villa, who were in the ascendancy, more than it did Aspire.

The reigning WFA Cup champions set about asserting more control over the game in the second half.

Aspire played patiently, spending long periods of the second half camped high in Villa territory. Eventually, they got their reward.

On 28 minutes, Mclellan split the Villa defence with a pass to his opposite winger John Dickson, who tucked away the opportunity and put his side one step closer to cup progression.

There was one last flashpoint. Villa created a massive opportunity with one of the last actions of the game, but a Jon Bolding deflection and the post managed to stop a last second Villa gut punch.

Villa deserve immense credit for a gutsy performance, and their contribution to a very entertaining game of football. We will face them once more in the league in gameweek five of the Premiership.

After the match, captain Jon Bolding said: "I thought we played great to be fair. We were a bit ropey defensively which is unlike us but we bounced back as we knew if we continued to play good football we'd bounce back.

"We've got a tough league coming up, we can concentrate on that now fully. Derby will be something to look forward to afterwards."

Aspire can now put the cup to bed for a while, but are back in Premiership action in a fortnight (28/29th March).